Increasing Conversion Rates: Does Your CTA Button Matter?

increasing conversion rates

The CTA, or Call to Action is absolutely critical when it comes to increasing conversion rates and the success of your business.

Creating the right call to action is almost like an art – you’ve got to be direct without being too firm. Clever, but not to the point where your end goal is unclear.

Essentially, you’re asking something without seeming too obvious that you’re asking.

Whether your call to action is to download an eBook, or make a purchase on a product you’re offering, or simply signing up for your newsletter, there are a few ways you can increase your conversion rates with properly designed CTA buttons.

Prioritize the Call to Action Button

The CTA button should be one of the first – if not the first – object that customers see. Make things very apparent and provide that line of cheese for your customer to follow.

Ensure the “buy it now” or “Go” button is positioned in a strategic way and takes up an appropriate amount of space.

Have it be slightly larger and offset than the rest of the text. You can do this by giving it some padding, creating a unique font or color than the rest of the text and objects on the page, etc.

The CTA button is critical – always keep in mind how it will look as you design your pages in your website. Space is a premium, however, you should never sacrifice on space when it comes to your call to action.

Set a Control and Test Regularly

Become an internet scientist and play with your buttons a little bit. This is extremely important in ruling out what’s working for your business and what isn’t.

Set a “control variable”, or a plain, basic button and assess whether or not the modified, new button you use is reaping better results.

Ideally, the new button should pull in much better numbers and increase everything from your conversion rate to sales to profit. However, if it doesn’t, you know what that means – it’s back to the drawing board!

Experiment as many times as needed – there’ no perfect button. Once you have one that works for you and is pulling in the highest conversion rates, you’re good to go.

Highlight the Call to Action Button

This is one of the most obvious ways to increase conversion rates with your CTA buttons. And according to expert web developers, it is probably your best shot of getting clicks on your call to action.

This is incredibly simple – all you need to do is make the “yes” or “buy now” or “sign up” button a contrasting color, emboldened, etc., while muting out the negative response.

This makes the user much more inclined to click the button you want them to. You want to mute the negative response – have it match the background, make it smaller, leave it as simple text outside of a button icon etc.

Just don’t go overboard – you don’t want to mislead or annoy customers by being too aggressive and practically hiding the negative button.

Set a Maximum Word Count of 5 Words for your CTA

That’s right – just five words. According to expert web developers, five words is the maximum amount of words you should have within your call to action button.

You can always go for a short phrase or word like “Go” or “Buy Now”. Or, customize the phrase and make something entirely unique for your online business.

However, 5 words is not a hard, exact number. You can get away with sneaking in a word or 2 according to lemonstand.com: “When it comes time for the CTA microcopy, limit it to around 5 words.

That’s not an exact rule — you can make a successful call-to-action with 6 or even 7 words — but for the most part, 5 is a good limit.” Know your limit, play within it. Try to find a phrase that works for you, preferably under 5 words, but up to 7.

Bottom Line

Whether you apply all of the techniques listed above or just one of them, you are sure to notice your conversion rates going up. Always strive for better and better results.

If you are seeing any inconsistencies or your conversion rates are declining, don’t be afraid to change up your buttons. Anything from changing the font size, to the style, to the color, etc. can lead to dramatic changes in your conversion rate.

Play with it a bit until you have the results you’re looking for and are pulling in as many clients and customers as possible. Remember to keep your call to action as short as possible – keep it simple and easy to understand.

Also, space is critical when it comes to your website – ensure that your CTA commands an appropriate space.

Overall, it requires a little experimentation and playing with in order to get optimal results. But by following this guide you’ll find yourself significantly increasing conversion rates in no time.

About the Author

John Stone is an avid writer and business consultant who believes that, to be a successful entrepreneur, you really need to think outside the box. He currently holds a consultant role at Algorithm Seo Sydney

Featured image:

increasing conversion rates

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net